Lapidary is the art of cutting and polishing gemstones. It is also the title of the person who does the cutting and polishing. So a Lapidary practices the art of lapidary.
This is the process of cutting a crystal into the sort of shapes that we normally think of with diamonds. A typical diamond cut as a round brilliant design has 57 separate faces or facets. This process takes many hours and uses a special machine called, not surprisingly, a faceting machine
A cabochon is the name given to gemstones that are cut with a curved upper surface. They usually also have flat backs to them but not always. The name comes from the hairstyle of medieval monks who shaved the tops of their heads. So basically we're saying that a cabochon looks like the top of a bald head!
During the process of cutting and polishing gemstones, they are often attached to pieces of dowel so that the gemstone can be held firmly against the grinding and polishing wheels without grinding your fingers at the same time. The stones are held onto the sticks with a special wax called Dopping Wax, not surprisingly. It takes practice to be able to fix the stone onto the dop stick so that it sits centrally and doesn't fall off